Ferndale What LP SmartSide Actually Is
LP SmartSide is an engineered wood siding product. It starts as wood strands bonded with resins under heat and pressure, then gets a proprietary treatment (LP calls it SmartGuard) to resist fungal decay and moisture, and finally a factory primer. It's a legitimate step up from the OSB siding that gave engineered wood a bad name in the 1990s, and LP has spent real money proving that out. It comes in lap boards, panels, and trim, and it's noticeably lighter and easier to cut than fiber cement, which is part of why some builders like it.
We get asked about it often enough that it's worth a straight answer: we don't install it. Not because it's a scam or a bad product on its face, but because after weighing how it performs long-term in this specific climate against what fiber cement offers, we decided we'd rather stand behind one material we trust completely than offer two and have to explain, ten years from now, why one homeowner's siding held up better than another's.
What LP SmartSide Gets Right
Credit where it's due. LP SmartSide is lighter than fiber cement, which means faster installation and less strain on crews working ladders and scaffolding. It cuts with standard woodworking blades instead of specialized fiber cement blades, and it holds a fastener a little more forgivingly. Impact resistance is genuinely good — better than vinyl, and comparable to fiber cement in a lot of independent testing. For a builder trying to hit a price point on new construction, it's an understandable choice.
It also takes paint well and has a more "woodgrain" look out of the box than some fiber cement lines, which some homeowners prefer aesthetically. We're not going to pretend otherwise.
Where Ferndale's Climate Puts Engineered Wood to the Test
Here's the trade-off nobody puts on the brochure: SmartSide is still wood at its core. The resin treatment and coating are what stand between that wood substrate and moisture, and that barrier depends entirely on staying intact — cut edges sealed, caulk lines maintained, paint recoated on schedule. In a dry inland climate, that's a manageable maintenance routine. In Whatcom County, with salt air rolling in off the water, driving rain that hits siding sideways during winter storms, and a moss season that keeps north-facing walls damp for weeks at a stretch, that barrier gets tested constantly.
Cut Edges and Field Seams
Every board that gets cut on site — around windows, at corners, at butt joints — exposes raw substrate that needs to be field-sealed before installation. This is the single biggest factor in how SmartSide performs over time, and it's also the step that's easiest to rush. Skip it or do it inconsistently, and you've created dozens of small entry points for moisture on every elevation of the house.
Grade Clearance and Standing Moisture
Engineered wood siding needs generous clearance from grade, decks, and irrigation spray, more than fiber cement typically requires, because sustained ground moisture is exactly what the substrate is vulnerable to. On a lot with tight side yards or a north wall that stays shaded and mossy most of the year — which describes a lot of Ferndale properties tucked against tree lines — that clearance is harder to guarantee and harder to maintain as landscaping grows in.
None of this means SmartSide will fail. Plenty of installations hold up fine when they're detailed correctly and maintained on schedule. But it means the margin for error is smaller here than it would be in a drier region, and the maintenance burden — recaulking, repainting, watching cut edges — falls on the homeowner for the life of the siding.
Fiber Cement: A Different Material Category
Fiber cement siding, and specifically what we install (James Hardie), isn't wood with a protective coating — it's cellulose fiber, sand, and Portland cement pressed and cured into a rigid board. There's no organic substrate for moisture to feed on and no coating that has to stay perfectly intact to keep the material sound. It's also non-combustible, which matters more every wildfire season, even here on the wet side of the state where smoke and ember exposure are becoming a real consideration in summer.
The finish is different too. Hardie's ColorPlus finish is baked on at the factory under controlled conditions, not brushed or sprayed on site, which is why it holds color and resists fading, chalking, and cracking longer than field-applied paint on any substrate.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Factor | LP SmartSide | James Hardie Fiber Cement |
|---|---|---|
| Core material | Engineered wood strand | Cement, sand, cellulose fiber |
| Moisture vulnerability | Depends on coating/sealing staying intact | Material itself doesn't rot or absorb like wood |
| Combustibility | Combustible (treated wood) | Non-combustible |
| Factory finish | Primed; field paint required | ColorPlus baked-on finish available |
| Weight / install speed | Lighter, faster to cut and hang | Heavier, requires specific blades and fasteners |
| Maintenance burden | Regular recaulk/repaint, edge inspection | Lower; periodic caulk and paint check on cut edges |
| Typical warranty structure | Limited, often prorated after early years | Long-term, transferable non-prorated coverage on Hardie lines |
Installation Sensitivity Matters as Much as the Product
Both of these products can be installed well or installed poorly, and the gap between the two outcomes is bigger than most homeowners realize. With SmartSide, that means sealing every field cut, respecting fastener placement, and getting grade clearance right — and once it's up, the homeowner inherits ongoing maintenance to keep the protective barrier working. With Hardie, correct installation means following the manufacturer's fastening pattern, using the right joint flashing and weather-resistive barrier detailing, and — for HZ5 climate zone products — following the specific guidance for wet, coastal conditions like what Whatcom County sees.
We standardized on one product in part because it lets us go deep on one installation method instead of staying competent across several. A crew that hangs Hardie every week, year-round, in this climate builds a different level of muscle memory around flashing details and cut-edge sealing than a crew that switches between three or four siding systems depending on the job.
Warranty Structure, Compared
Warranty terms are one of the more overlooked differences. LP SmartSide's warranty is real, but like most engineered wood products it includes performance conditions tied to correct installation and maintenance, and coverage on some components steps down (prorates) over time. Hardie's fiber cement products carry a long-term limited warranty that's non-prorated and transferable to a subsequent homeowner if the house sells, which matters for resale in a market where buyers increasingly ask what the siding is and how it's warrantied. We'd rather stand behind a warranty structure that doesn't require an asterisk-filled explanation.
Why We Standardized on James Hardie
We're not installing SmartSide badly — we're not installing it at all, and that's a deliberate call. When we weighed a material that depends on an intact coating to keep moisture out, against a material that's inert to moisture and rot by nature, in a county that gets salt-laden coastal air, sideways winter rain, and enough shaded, damp exposure to grow moss on a north wall in a single season, fiber cement was the clearer long-term bet. Hardie's ColorPlus finish, non-combustible core, climate-engineered HZ5 product line, and transferable warranty add up to a system we can install once and stand behind for decades, not a system that asks the homeowner to keep re-sealing it to keep working as designed.
That's the honest version, not the sales version: SmartSide is a competent product for the right application. We just don't think a marine-influenced, high-moisture county like this one is that application, and we'd rather turn down installing it than sell something we're not fully confident in.
Questions to Ask Before You Choose
Whatever siding you end up choosing — with us or anyone else — these are the questions worth getting real answers to before you sign a contract:
- Who is actually installing the siding, and how many years of experience do they have with this specific product?
- What's the manufacturer's climate zone rating for this product, and does it match Whatcom County's coastal, high-moisture conditions?
- Is the warranty prorated, and does it transfer if you sell the house?
- What ongoing maintenance does this product require, and who's responsible for it — you, or does the installer offer a maintenance plan?
- How are cut edges, joints, and grade clearance being detailed on your specific house, not just in general?
- Is the material combustible, and does that matter for your insurance or your own risk tolerance?
If you're weighing siding options for a home in Ferndale or anywhere else in Whatcom County, we're glad to walk through what we see on your specific house — sun exposure, shaded walls, grade conditions, all of it — and give you a straight answer about what we'd recommend. Reach out for a free, no-pressure estimate; there's a form right below this page.